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CVE-2026-50160 – Unauthenticated Mass Assignment / Full Server Compromise – Hoppscotch self-hoste…

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Summary

CVE-2026-50160 is a critical mass assignment vulnerability (CWE-915) in self-hosted deployments of Hoppscotch, an open-source API development platform widely adopted by engineering teams. An unauthenticated remote attacker can overwrite the application’s JWT signing secret via a single HTTP POST request to the onboarding configuration endpoint, enabling unrestricted admin token forgery and full server compromise. This vulnerability carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 10.0 (Critical).

Technical details

  • Root cause: The global NestJS ValidationPipe is configured without whitelist: true, so extra properties submitted in the request body are not stripped before reaching the service layer. The service iterates over all request body keys using Object.entries(dto) and casts them directly as InfraConfigEnum values without runtime verification. The validateEnvValues switch statement contains a silent default: break case, allowing security-critical keys such as JWT_SECRET and SESSION_SECRET to pass validation unchecked. The endpoint itself carries no authentication guard.
  • Trigger conditions: The vulnerable POST /v1/onboarding/config endpoint is accessible without authentication on any instance where onboarding has not yet completed — specifically, where zero users exist in the database. Freshly deployed self-hosted instances are directly at risk during this initial setup window.
  • Attack vector: A single unauthenticated HTTP POST request to /v1/onboarding/config with attacker-controlled values for JWT_SECRET (and optionally SESSION_SECRET) injected as extra body properties. No credentials, existing sessions, or user interaction are required.
  • Impact: Once the attacker controls JWT_SECRET, they can forge valid JWT tokens for any user UID, including administrators. All JwtAuthGuard protections become ineffective. The attacker can impersonate any account, exfiltrate all user data and stored API keys, make persistent configuration changes, and maintain access even after victim password resets.

Affected software

  • hoppscotch-backend versions 2026.4.1 and earlier (all self-hosted deployments)

Severity

  • CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 10.0 (Critical)
  • Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
  • CWE: CWE-915 – Improperly Controlled Modification of Dynamically-Determined Object Attributes

Mitigation and recommended actions

  • Immediate: Upgrade to Hoppscotch 2026.5.0, which enables whitelist: true and forbidNonWhitelisted: true on the global ValidationPipe, adds a service-level allowlist restricting which configuration keys can be persisted via the onboarding endpoint, and explicitly rejects JWT_SECRET, SESSION_SECRET, and ALLOW_SECURE_COOKIES across all infra-config code paths.
  • If immediate patching is not possible:
    • Block public network access to POST /v1/onboarding/config via firewall rules or reverse proxy ACLs until the upgrade can be applied.
    • Complete onboarding immediately after deployment so the usersCount > 0 condition is met, removing the exposed attack surface on this code path.
    • Rotate JWT_SECRET and SESSION_SECRET on any instance that was internet-exposed in an unpatched, pre-onboarding state; invalidate all active sessions after rotation.

IONIX Status

The IONIX research team is tracking ongoing exploitation attempts and recommends immediate patching. Potentially affected assets are outlined in this post.

References

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